Injection molding nozzle assembly

Abstract

A nozzle assembly for use in injection molding comprises a pair of spacers acting between the manifold and either a cover plate or a hot runner plate of an injection molding machine to apply a contact pressure between the nozzle body melt channel and the manifold melt channel to achieve a seal therebetween. The resilience of the spacers result in an increased operational temperature range for the nozzle assembly, the contact pressure being generated and/or maintained over the range of the operational temperatures. An additional advantage is provided in that the nozzle assembly is compact and can be closely spaced with similar nozzle assemblies to achieve center spacings as small as eight millimetres. The assemblies can be mounted and/or removed from the cavity of the manifold plate, and/or changing of the nozzle heater elements, without requiring removal of the mold from the injection mold machine. In one embodiment, the nozzle assemblies can be removed or mounted by removing a cover plate from the manifold plate, the cover plate being capable of retaining multiple nozzle assemblies in place. In another embodiment, the nozzle assembly has a mounting flange and one or more bolts extend through the and engage the manifold plate and these bolts allow mounting and removal of the nozzle assembly.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.